


A Better Ending To The Day

by afteriwake



Series: Can You Keep A Secret? [9]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Drinking, Established Relationship, F/M, Happy Ending, Implied Sexual Content, Marriage Proposal, Mentions of Patrick Jane - Freeform, Mentions of Red John, No longer a secret, found out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 02:06:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13020957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: It's a day full of surprises when their superiors find out about their relationship.





	A Better Ending To The Day

**Author's Note:**

> This was my last fic for the **stagesoflove** claimwith the theme " _Five stages of love_ " (" _commitment_ ") as well as an answer to the **au_developments** prompt " _Happy Endings_." Hope you all enjoyed the series!

“Hey,” Wayne said to Grace when he opened up his door. It had been his day off, and he’d planned on getting some errands done that he needed to do. But it was noon and Grace was at his doorstep. Something was wrong because she was supposed to be at work.

“They know,” she said dejectedly. He moved out of her way and she came in. He’d been ignoring his phone, but he got a feeling he’d missed an important call or two by doing that. He didn’t need her to explain who the “they” were.

“Well, we knew it would happen someday,” he said quietly.

“Lisbon stood up for us, but…” She sighed. “Minelli told me I should probably get out of the office for the rest of the day. Apparently, he figured out we were dating, too, and is going to stand up for us as well.”

He pulled her into a hug. “How did they find out?”

“Apparently someone was following us, and they sent pictures to the higher-ups. Patrick thinks it might have been Red John, and…I don’t like it, but I think I agree with him. There wouldn’t be anyone else who would want to ruin the team that Patrick’s a part of.”

“Then we’ll just put plan B into effect,” he said, rubbing her back lightly as she put her arms around his waist and relaxed against him. “I’ve been keeping in contact with Captain Reynaldo in the Sacramento PD and the minute I want to join there’s a job waiting for me. I’ll call him today and put in my resignation tomorrow when I go in.”

“I didn’t think this would happen,” she said, her voice muffled by the fact that she had her face burrowed into his neck. “I didn’t think it would happen like this.”

“I know,” he said. “I didn’t either.”

They stayed like that for a few moments before Grace let go and pulled away. “Can I get a drink?” she asked. He nodded, moving into his cabinet and getting out a bottle of hard liquor. He pulled out two glasses and poured some of the alcohol into each glass and then handed her one. She took a drink, and then relaxed a little more. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” He took a drink himself and thought for a moment. “There’s a couple pluses to this situation,” he said.

“Such as?” she asked.

“I can finally set up a real life here in Sacramento,” he said. “There’s a lot of things I wanted to do here that I haven’t been able to do with all the traveling.”

“That’s true,” she replied. “I mean, I know exactly what you mean.”

“And we can go out in public now. We don’t have to hide. I can take you out to dinner or to a movie and not have to worry about running into someone we know. It won’t matter if I see anyone you work with because I won’t be working with you anymore.”

She smiled at that. “God, we can go on real dates around here, can’t we?”

“Yes we can,” he said with a grin. “So, you know, it’s not all bad.”

“No, I guess you’re right.” She set her drink down. “And you’re okay with leaving?”

“Like I said, I’ve been talking to the Sacramento PD about joining for the last four months, ever since I told you about it. And I’ve been thinking about this since we started dating seven months before that.”

She was quiet. “You’ve been keeping track?”

He nodded. “I had a good reason.”

“What was that?” she asked.

He finished off his drink. “Give me a second.”

“Okay,” she said, picking her drink back up and taking a sip. She almost dropped the glass when he came back, though, with a ring box in his hand. “Oh my God…”

“I couldn’t ask you this while I was still working there,” he said quietly. He stood in front of her and got down on one knee, opening up the box for her to take a look. “I’m not really good at all the poetry stuff, but I love you, and I want to marry you. So…will you marry me?”

She set her drink down again with a trembling hand. He took it and held it for a moment, and she felt calmer, and she knew what to say. “Yes,” she said with a smile. He grinned back and slipped the ring on her finger before getting up and pulling her into a kiss. They kissed for a few minutes before she pulled away. “How long have you had that ring?”

“A week,” he said sheepishly. “I didn’t think I’d get to ask so soon, though. I was going to wait another month and then see if I should put in my resignation anyway, just so I could ask. I figured after a year you’d be more inclined to say yes.”

She threw her arms around his neck and held him close. “I would have said yes if you asked me last week,” she said. “I wouldn’t have cared if we were still working together.”

“That’s good to know,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. He held her for a moment before he let her go. “So…what do you think of the ring?”

“I think it’s gorgeous,” she said, pulling away and taking a better look at it. “You picked it out by yourself?”

He shook his head slightly. “I know nothing about rings, so I asked Patrick for his advice.”

“He _knew_?” Grace said, looking shocked.

He nodded. “He figured out pretty quick what kind of ring you’d like once I got it out that I wanted to get you one. He even went with me to the jeweler to pick it out.”

“Whether he likes it or not I’m giving him a huge hug tomorrow. This is…this is a magnificent ring.”

“Glad you like it,” he replied. “You know what? We should celebrate.”

“How?” she asked.

“Go out on a real date.”

She thought about it for a moment and then shook her head. “I have a better idea,” she said with a slightly wicked smile. “I think we should move this conversation to another part of your apartment.”

He raised an eyebrow slightly and grinned. “I was planning on doing that later, but if you insist…”

“I insist,” she said with a laugh, reaching over for his hand and pulling him towards his bedroom. This started off as a horrible day, she thought to herself, but it had quickly become the best day of her life.


End file.
